Darkened Souls
by Kishin Something-or-other
Summary: The story of how Demon Weapons were created. Arachne and Medusa, the two oldest Gorgon sisters, have created a deadly new weapon that they refer to as Black Blood. After 200 years of studying the Black Blood, Arachne has finally found out what to create with it: a half weapon, half human creature known as a Demon Weapon, secured with her own Black Blood. Contains some language
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The creation of Demon Weapons- Black Blood?!

Arachne's POV

_921 years ago…_

"Medusa! Come quickly!" Excitement surged through me as I looked down at my work. Test tubes and liquids of all types, boiling and steaming inside their beakers, spread out along my desk (it was more like a platform, really; it was big enough to fit at least ten regular-sized people), which was positioned in the corner of a rather large, black room inside my new(er) fortress, Baba Yaga Castle, founded for one purpose – as the only place that I could find refuge in to do my experiments. "I've found something!"

My younger (but only by about 100 years) sister appeared next to me, her face twisted into a wild smile. "Oh? Show me, Arachne!" Despite still being so young, Medusa had a knack for science – in fact, some witches would argue even better than I am. After all, she'd had a good 50 years to practice with me as her mentor. If anything, she's well on her way.

"What did you find? Come on, I haven't got all day you know! Which one are you working on?" Her eyes sparkled as she crossed her legs, letting her vector arrow tail hold her up.

"Black Blood." I said proudly. "I think I've finished the prototype!" Black Blood was our newest experiment. We wanted to make a substance that was in some manners invincible. I knew we still had a ways to go, but this was a start.

I held up a petri dish, filled with a purplish substance. The Black Blood. _My _Black Blood.

Medusa's smile widens. "Did you test it yet? Please let me do it, Arachne. PLEASE." Her voice pleaded and her eyes filled with tears. Fake, of course. My little sister had a knack for looking for trouble, and she had long ago perfected the art of guilt tripping. I have long since become immune to it.

"No."

"Pretty please? Oh, _come on _Arachne. I was the one with the ideas… But if you insist…" She turned, got to her feet, and slowly – _very _slowly – scooted away from me. I sighed.

"Come here." I didn't want any trouble with her today; it was big for both of us. We'd been working on this project for about 20 or so years so far. Since Medusa herself was only an infant.

"Yay!" She rushed back towards me and gave me a death-grip, one leg in the air. I smile and gesture to the table, bowing in mock as I do so. She responds by curtseying and walking elegantly towards me, holding out her hand. I took it and guided it to the Blood.

We do this sometimes, showing our hate of human aristocrats by mocking their movements. It is those humans whom ordered the mass murder of witches. Hundreds of witches that we knew have been murdered within the span of 15 years. That is why Medusa and I are developing this weapon. We refuse to stand down to those lesser than us.

"Arachne?" Medusa said, leaning over the petri dish, "Did you add any other blood to this?"

I'm not surprised by this question. It's witches blood that enhances any type of technology; be it organic (like the Blood) or industrial (like some automatic weapons created by myself and other witches). Either way, even a small drop of a witch's blood could make even the simplest weapon deadly. Which is why the murder of witches is so crucial; if any government organization gets their hands on a dead witch, then they have the ultimate advantage over any enemy.

"Of course I did." I replied, holding out my hand to show her my own webs wrapped around it, surrounding a gash the size of my middle finger.

"That's a big cut. You made it very powerful; anyone could sense it." She looked from the Blood to me and back again. "Would you mind if I tried to use some of mine?" I nodded, closing my eyes and letting my webs re-bandage my cut, which was throbbing.

My head buzzed when I opened my eyes again, but I began to find that normal. Others told me that when I open my eyes right after that, they appear to be webbed and black. But it fades after a few seconds. As the Gorgon sister, it is necessary that I expand my powers to their maximum, so I must accept it for what it is.

I heard Medusa gasp. I jolted my head towards her, to find that the Blood is spilling over the edges of the dish. Her face was twisted into a look of horror. "I swear, Arachne, it was only a drop!" Medusa's arrow tail was out, catching the overflowing substance. "Quickly, I need a beaker."

It's rare that I listen to my younger sister, but this was for my own benefit. I grabbed a beaker and let the Blood drip from the tip of the arrowhead and into the beaker.

"Are you sure?" _Her blood is powerful. I will have to watch out- just in case._

"About what?" The Blood calmed and settled back into the dish.

"_Exactly_ how much did you add?"

"It was only a drop." Medusa held out her hand which, sure enough, was almost complete unscathed except for the faintest sign of a cut.

_Then how could your blood be that powerful?!_

"Arachne… your eyes…" I could hardly hear her, as my head began buzzing louder than I'd ever experienced before.

And then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. I regained my senses and found myself on my back. One of Medusa's vector arrows held me only inches above the ground.

A strange sensation overcame me then. It was like the buzzing in my head, only milder and it spread throughout my whole body. I didn't know what to think anymore.

Medusa was at the desk, about 20 feet away, working on something that I couldn't see. Her head was back, but tilted at an angle so that I couldn't make out what was happening. _I can't show any weakness to my _little _sister._

"What are you working on, Medusa?" I made my voice as steady as possible, but there were still the slightest signs of a tremor. The tone of my voice shifted slightly after every word. My whole body vibrated, sending odd sensations through me that I could not recognize.

I expected Medusa to mock me for my odd voice. Instead, however, she remained uncharacteristically quiet. No – she was _serious. _But something still wasn't right. "Medusa?" She wasn't listening. "What are you doing?" I asked again.

Hesitantly, I stood up and crept over to her. I sneaked a glance over her shoulder; immediately, bile rose into my throat. I stumbled, throwing my body in the other direction – any direction but towards Medusa. I sprinted for the entrance of the room without looking back. My head began to hurt again.

The room suddenly seemed much bigger than I last remembered. _Circles. Why do I feel like I am going in circles?!_ I looked down at my feet, which were gliding on thin air. Beneath them were large, black arrows. _Vector Plates. _I was, in fact, moving in wide arcs according to the position of her Plates.

I was on the verge of crying out, screaming for help to no one, when the worst pain I'd ever felt took over my whole body. It felt as if I had been stabbed in every place, and then burnt for good measure. The last thing I saw (or remember seeing) were two glowing red eyes, their pupils black slits, staring straight at me.

Reaching out for my soul.

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	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Scorpions and Spiders and Snakes, Oh My!

Medusa's POV

"Arachne… your eyes…"

My elder sister cringed and held her head in a way that made my blood run cold. Her eyes became black and webbed, as if a spider had crawled into her head and spun its webs behind her pupils. She almost immediately fell to her knees.

"Arachne! Arachne, what's wrong? What happened?" I raced to her side and wrapped my arms around her, summoning a vector arrow large enough to fit her body a few inches off of the ground. I set her down gently, but she nearly fell off as she began to thrash around, looking as if she was possessed. She began to moan and mutter something that I couldn't understand. I created as much of a barrier as I could to keep her from falling off of the thin arrow.

_What's going on?!_

"Your sister doubts herself, Witch Medusa." A voice hissed from somewhere nearby, the sound coming out of nowhere. I whipped my head around, startled and shaken up, towards the source of noise, looking nowhere in particular.

Arachne jolted again, but much more violently than before. What scared me, though, was how utterly quiet she had become. There was no sound, as if a curtain of silence had descended upon us, threatening to suffocate me. She seemed to be caught in a living death. Suddenly, it seemed almost impossible to breathe.

_Something is messing with my head._

A black spec flashed past me, so fast that I dismissed it as another trick of my mind. Just as suddenly, a few more passed by. I began to doubt my own sanity, until I looked up from Arachne's flinching body. Surrounding us were thousands of glowing dots. Eyes.

Spiders.

Before my eyes, the spiders arranged themselves into rows, crowding towards Arachne. The first one touched the tip of her finger. Both twitched.

And then she screamed.

It was a gut-wrenching holler, unlike anything I'd ever heard in my life. I felt my ears burn, melting into the horrible blackness of pure terror and agony. My life was plunging into a living hell. And so was hers.

"This is her punishment."

Some unseen force shot me back, and I was slammed against the wall next to the desk. Arachne was so far away. _I need to get to her. I need to save her._ But I couldn't reach her. I couldn't help her. I couldn't even help myself.

"What do you want?" I cried into the eerie darkness, over the horrors of my sister's screams, praying for an answer; yet there was a feeling in my gut that didn't want a response. I didn't know how to deal with that kind of thing. Not yet, anyway. "Reveal yourself to me!"

A wall of spiders suddenly rose out of the shadows, looming far above my head. Red dots – eyes – glared down at me from every angle.

"What is happening to my sister?!" I couldn't keep the terror out of my voice.

"Calm down, Medusa. Relax and enjoy the show." The voice grew louder as it laughed softly to itself.

"Who are you? What gives you the right to say that about Arachne?"

"Every right, thank you very much." It paused. "All in good time, _sister_."

I flinched. _Sister?_ No. No. Not possible. _What is going on?!_

"That's enough. Stop it. STOP IT!" my voice rose to a scream. "You coward – get out here and show yourself!"

"That's absolutely no way to treat your sister, Medusa. Look around you, Onee-san. If you think I'm the only threat here, then you're wrong." Sigh.

Onee-san. Impossible. My heart raced as an endless list situations and possibilities came into my head. I knew that this could easily be a threat. Or it could (not-nearly-as-easily) be the truth.

I instinctively positioned my vector arrows, pointing them in every direction, away from my body.

"Shut up. Just answer my question. What the hell is happening to Arachne?" My voice trembled and broke off in a whisper, all attempts to conceal my anxiety futile. The imposter whispered an amused laugh, so soft I nearly passed it off again as a trick of my mind. But common sense told me that it was real and every bit intended.

"Idiot," the voice, once coming from in front of me, suddenly came from behind, "you don't believe me?" silence. "Be that way."

In the uncomfortable silence that followed, my focus was lost and I slipped in and out of consciousness. Nightmarish ideas consumed my thoughts until I was snapped back into reality by the crisp sound of breaking glass behind me. Behind me. Behind me? I whipped my head around, confused. I was right next to the giant desk only minutes ago. Or was it hours? It was impossible to tell.

Now I was nearly forty feet away. And Arachne was 10. I felt my hair stand on end as I looked in the direction of my lifeless sister. Or, what was left of her. My blood chilled at the sight of the black mass where she should have been, and how I never would've seen it had it been completely still.

The sight of millions of small, black bodies against the smooth obsidian floor reminded me of the lake next to the estate in a storm. Massive waves of black reached up to the black ceiling, visible by the faint light showing through the single window far above the desk, used only for its small light and fresh air. That window would soon be gone.

Again my attention was drawn to the desk. A beaker shattered. I felt a shard of something sharp fly past me. I looked down to see a deep wound in my calf, squirting a fountain of blood for a mere second before settling into a thick, steady flow down my leg. I felt nothing.

The desk was five feet away. I do not know how, considering I hadn't moved an inch. Had I? It was impossible to tell. Arachne's body was now invisible in the black cloud, but I didn't even turn my head towards it.

My eyes settled on a small purple creature sitting on a sheet of parchment. It stuck out like a full moon on a clear night. The grey desk seemed to fade as I stared. Though I was aware that I had studied the creature many times, I could not understand what was sitting in front of me.

My thoughts became clouded and distorted.

And then it moved. At first it was a slow, careful advancement towards the edge of the yellowing sheet. As soon as the first of its many legs touched the dark plastic, it was gone. My head snapped up in the direction it appeared to have run, but I was too late. It had disappeared.

"You're slow, Medusa,"

My eyes widened slightly. My heart raced. My head felt heavy. Black dots crept into my vision.

"I don't understand…." I heard myself say; nothing more than that could escape my lips. I couldn't move. I could hardly breathe. I didn't dare to blink.

Movement behind me – shuffling. I kept still. The noise echoed softly in the large room. My eyes watered.

And then it stopped.

There was no more sound; my heart pounded in my ears, but it was clear that whatever was behind me was keeping extremely still.

The pounding in my head softened gradually. My vision cleared somewhat. It could've been seconds, even hours. It felt like days. Though my senses recovered and heightened, I was left groggy and fatigued. It took me everything to remain standing.

With my mostly cleared head, I could somewhat think again. But it still hurt. Not as much as before, but it was still there, loud and obnoxious. Hundreds of thoughts raced through my brain, making up for lost time. I could only take so much.

My knees buckled, and I collapsed. I held my head in my hands, desperately trying to make it stop. My efforts remained futile, and eventually my arms fell to my side from the pure exhaustion of it.

On top of all of that, my Soul Perception heightened. It is extremely difficult to describe what this felt like. Imagine millions of almost tangible thoughts streaming into your head at the same time. It's sort of like that, but putting it like that is a horribly crude way to say it. It can be excruciatingly painful in high amounts. Though it was the best perception technique of the time, it was not completely efficient, and the side effects could be serious.

Through all of the chaos my body was feeling, one soul stuck out, like a black dot on white paper. Its powerful resonance rung through my own soul, shaking me to the core.

Through the pounding in my head, the clear, sharp sound of advancing footsteps sliced through.

I peeked through my eyelids. What I saw in front of me made the pain fade into the background, as if was nothing more than a small nuisance.

Dark purple eyes stared into mine, an inch away. There was so little white in them that I thought for a moment that I was looking into two dark holes.

And then they moved away, revealing the face of a young girl, a teenager in the eyes of mortals. To me, she looked around 70 years old at the most.

(You see, time passes differently for mortals and witches. Witches, and most other magic creatures. For us, 70 years in mortal terms may seem like only a few in our own, 13 or 14 in the mortal systems. It depends on who you ask. I was 140. More or less. Sometimes it can be difficult to track, and most give up on it after the first 100 years. Arachne would always refer to me as an infant, even at 120. She can be that way sometimes. But no, I would be considered around 16 in the eyes of any normal mortal. However, there are always exceptions…)

She had a long, graceful face. It was pale and her cheeks were rosy, even in the dimly lit room. Her lips were a dull red. From her ears fell beautiful copper pieces, bent into the shape of a foreign symbol that I did not know.

Her hair, coming into her face somewhat, was dark purple, a small shade lighter than her eyes, and extremely long, nearly down to her calves. It was in a tight braid, pulled into a strange hook at the end.

She had a long, pale, curved body, pulled tight into a beautiful dress that was the color of blood. It wrapped around her neck lightly, and she wore long black gloves that reached well above her elbows.

My Perception told me immediately that hers was the powerful soul that I had been sensing.

"It's been a while, has it not?"

My eyes widened, and I felt my mouth inch open.

"Why so mute, sister? Are you not glad of our reunion?" The girl gave a cunning smile.

"Scorpia….?" Anger began to welt inside of me. Anger, and something else. _Fear._

"Finally! All that time I've been gone, and this is what I get?" Scorpia's smile became sincere. Honestly sincere. She reached a hand down to me, wanting me to take it. I narrowed my eyes and used up my own precious strength to stand, ignoring her offer.

The anger continued to build. It threatened to bubble over.

"What are you trying to say?" My voice came out chillingly calm.

"How long has it been now?" she looked me in the eye. I was right – there really was hardly any white to them. It was unnerving. "What, 50 years? You're not at all the way I remember you."

"Remember me? What the hell do you mean by _remember me_?!" My voice began to rise.

"No need for that…" Scorpia looked away briefly, into the darkness behind us. When she turned back, her eyes were smaller, and more natural-looking. There was white to them now.

"Tell me what you're doing here. Why –"

My younger sister cut me off. "Look, I know you have questions. Trust me, I know. But now's not the time for that. Do you understand what's happening to Arachne? Medusa? Do you?" She seemed like a completely different person than she was only a moment before.

I stared at her, keeping my mouth tightly shut. My eyes began to water as a pain in my leg grew steadily. I decided against looking down, knowing something that hurts that bad could be nothing good. I didn't want to deal with it.

Scorpia's face grew serious. Her eyes lost their previous gleam. "Medusa, please. You need to tell me."

"I don't understand…" The anger evaporated as quickly as it had come up. "Scorpia, what are you doing here?" A tear slid down my cheek. I ignored it.

"I really don't have time to explain right now. Do you really not know?" Genuine concern slipped into her expression.

My eyes shifted. "What are you talking about? Why won't you tell me?! You said this is Arachne's punishment… for what? What's happening to her?!"

"Our dear sister Arachne is going into a phase that only particularly powerful witches can achieve." Amusement in her voice. "This is only the beginning of it, but it's enough for now. And no, it's not my doing," she held up her hands in mock defense, "but she won't be well for a while. It is in a way a punishment… She is overconfident of her work, and through this overconfidence she felt a sudden doubt. That doubt triggered a series of reactions to occur, leading to this. It is, in theory, supposed to give a witch strength, but that is a debatable concept." Her stare faltered, but she recovered quickly. "She won't be the same after this, though I can't say for sure what will happen to her."

I took a few minutes to absorb this information. More questions formed, bringing my head to a dull throb. After a while, I decided on temporarily ignoring the unnerving speech she just gave.

"Why are you here, Scorpia." A demand. No question.

For the first time, Scorpia's composure slackened. She hesitated, and her eyes began shifting.

"I can't tell you that right now."

"Yes you can. And you will. I will ask again: _why are you here_?" The slow venom in my own voice surprised me.

"Onee-san… Please understand. I can't."

"Don't give me that crap! It's been 50 years. _50 years,_ Scorpia. And suddenly you just appear here? It took me longer to recover than you could ever imagine. Where do you think that puts me, Scorpia? I waited 40 years, and all that time not a single hint of a whisper from you _or_ Tigris. I gave up 10 years ago.

"What gives you the right to come here now? After all this time, you suddenly appear in front of me, torturing me further. And now Arachne is being taken away from me. She was the only one I had, Scorpia. You? Gone. Tigris? Gone. James? Not even. So tell me, _sister of mine_, what gives you ANY right to come into my life now?"

My throat hurt, and I realized that I had been screaming. I looked at the ground. My face felt hot, and I recognized the familiar feeling of hot tears running down my face.

Scorpia refused to meet my eyes. Her hands rubbed together anxiously, and she shifted on her feet, her red dress flowing towards the floor. For a minute, nothing was said. The only sound came from the blackness around us.

I lost track of time again. Minutes? Hours? It didn't matter anymore.

"I'm sorry."

"What?" I looked up at the unexpected comment.

"I'm sorry, Medusa."

I said nothing to this.

"I didn't realize… I thought you'd be excited, happy even, to see me… I didn't even think you'd feel like that." Pause. "Tigris is dead."

That caught me off guard. "_What?_"

"Tigris is dead. I just thought you should know." Regret in her voice.

Anxiety swelled up inside of me. I knew something bad must've happened from her lack of communication, but I tried not to think of it. But now…

"When?" I choked out. My voice was rough from screaming.

Scorpia looked up. Tears were streaming down her face. She said nothing.

For the first time in 50 years, I saw my little sister before me, frail and helpless like she used to be. I looked at her, long and hard, trying to figure out what had happened to her. I reluctantly pushed the thought of Tigris as much as I could out of my head. I shoved down my fear and anxiety.

Wiping the tears from my eyes, I gained as much of my composure as I could, trying in vain to seem like somewhat of a sisterly figure. I used my moment of calm to my advantage and looked around the room with a clear head.

The first thing I noticed was the floor. What was usually plain black obsidian was now crawling with spiders. They made a wide arc around us, pouring in from the small window above us and towards Arachne. Their red eyes glowed brightly against the blackness. I fought down the bile rising in the throat.

I also noticed a large creature standing behind Scorpia. It was mostly hidden by the darkness, but as I said before, I had studied the specific creature many times before. Now I realized what I had seen on the desk.

The giant scorpion took a few steps towards Scorpia, coming out of the darkness somewhat. She sat down and leaned on it in one fluent motion. My breath caught as it moved its huge tail in a calming motion over my sister's arm, its claw gently scratching her skin. Scorpia moved her hand over the scorpion's rough skin in return. It let out a strange noise, similar to the purr of a cat. I stared in awe, wondering of how a creature like this could be so graceful.

My thoughts wandered, lightening the pressure in the back of my head.

After a while, Scorpia shifted, and I refocused on her and the scorpion. To my surprise, I found that I was sitting, leaning against one of the legs of the table. My leg ached.

"Medusa…"

I looked up. Scorpia was staring at me. Her eyes shifted down when I looked at her.

"Can I ask you a question, Scorpia? Actually, two." A strange sense of calm washed over me.

Scorpia looked at me again, her look questioning. She eventually nodded.

"First…" I bowed my head towards her. Towards the scorpion. She seemed to get the picture.

"This is Akasha." The scorpion moved its giant claws at the mention of its name, making the purring noise again. "Akasha, my sister Medusa." Scorpia leaned her head down on one of Akasha's legs.

I nodded slowly, not sure what to make of her strange pet. However, I can't say I was surprised. I had seen too much to find that surprising.

"Why did you leave?" I couldn't contain the mixed curiosity building up inside of me. The question hung in the air for a few moments. However, I hadn't meant to ask it at that exact second. _Too soon…_

"Mother took me. She said I couldn't stay here. There were dangerous people hunting us, and she couldn't risk it. So she took me away." My younger sister bit her lip as if she had said too much.

I let her reply replay in my head, over and over. It didn't make sense. If she was afraid of mortals hunting us, why not take me and Arachne as well? Scorpia was small and immature and not even 20 years old yet. So why her?

"Don't call her mother." Not what I had wanted to say, but the words slipped out of my mouth anyway.

Scorpia's face flushed, visible even in the dark.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say it like that." Silence hung again. Once again, I pushed the thought of Tigris, dead, out of my mind.

"Medusa, it's going to happen to you, too."

This caught me off guard. "Beg pardon?"

"What's happening to Arachne. I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do about it. I'm so sorry, Onee-san." Each word dripped with regret. She gripped Akasha's leg.

"I don't understand. Scorpia, what do you mean?" Fear crept into my limbs, weakening them. Reality was slower to settle.

"I can prepare you the best I can, if you truly wish. But that could just make it worse. I'm sorry."

I looked at her, my eyes widening. "But… So that's why…."

Scorpia only solemnly nodded.

It all began to make sense. The strange mood swings. The overwhelming thoughts. The heightened Soul Perception. My mind reeled.

My weight gave out, and I found myself on my side.

My sister leaned over me. Her eyes showed genuine concern. She was talking. I didn't understand. My head started to hurt again. I grimaced and turned over, suddenly uncomfortable. My stomach began to ache, and then hurt. And then I was clutching at my side, pain swelling up, spreading through my body. I began to understand how Arachne must have felt.

My vision blackened, and I became unaware of everything. Everything but the small voice in the back of my head, whispering to me.

_Medusa, don't panic. Remember what I was telling you before. _

_Scorpia? Is that you?_

_Yes, Onee-san. But please, don't. It'll only make things worse for you._

_Scorpia, can I ask you a question?_

_Yes, but hurry. _

_Why were you like that before? Why did you seem so happy to see Arachne like that? _

Pause. _That is an issue for a later time, Onee-san. _

_NO! You can't do this to me! Tell me! What's going to happen to me, at least?!_

Pause. _I cannot know for sure. Only time will tell._

_Am I going to die?_

_Come on, Onee-san. You're supposed to be a role model, right? Why don't you at least try to be a big sister? At least now. Please._

_You're telling me that now?! That is not helping me in the least!_

_I have to go now. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry… _

The voice faded out. All blackness. It is nearly impossible to tell what happened next.

There was a sickening sensation of something in my throat. Sliding down. Pain everywhere. Blackness fading in and out. I would occasionally get a glimpse of something, but only for a second. I felt my vectors going, for lack of better term, crazy. I couldn't tell what was happening to them, but it was obvious, even in my oblivious state, that something wasn't right.

At one point, I thought I saw Arachne leaning over me. But I immediately dismissed it, knowing full well what was happening to her.

And then, just as suddenly as it came, it was gone and I became unaware of everything once again.

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**It's finally done! I'm sorry this chapter took _soooo _long to write, but I'm going to try to put myself on a schedule for uploading now. Hopefully that works! **

**As always, please review!**


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